School of Physics - Theses
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ItemResonant Leptogenesis and Quark-Lepton Unification with Low-Scale Seesaws( 2020)The seesaw mechanism, where a hierarchy exists between the moduli of different entries of a mass mixing matrix, is a simple and theoretically attractive explanation for the observed large hierarchy between the neutral- and charged-fermion masses of the Standard Model. The simplest neutrino mass seesaw predicts that, upon diagonalisation, the physical mass states will either all be Majorana or all form pseudo-Dirac pairs. Non-minimal variants of this seesaw often generate a hybrid scenario with the physical mass states being a combination of both Majorana and pseudo-Dirac pairs. Such models often predict unique phenomenology and also allow for much lower mass scales of new physics. This thesis explores the implications such non-minimal variants can have beyond the simple generation of neutrino mass, particularly the possible role they may have in explaining the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry as well as implications for particular models of quark-lepton unification. Chapter 1 reviews the current experimental evidence for neutrino mass and discusses some possible tree-level origins. The matter-antimatter asymmetry is introduced and the conditions necessary for the dynamical generation of this observed asymmetry are reviewed. The idea of thermal leptogenesis is outlined as a simple mechanism for generating an asymmetry dynamically at an epoch between the the period of reheating and the electroweak phase transition of the early universe. Finally, the idea that quarks and leptons are related by hidden symmetries are discussed with a particular emphasis on the quark-lepton unifying Pati-Salam gauge group. In Chapter 2 we consider the leptogenesis implications for the Standard Model extended by two gauge-singlet fermions for each generation of charged lepton. We focus on the possibility of resonant scenarios without the need for inter-generational mass degeneracies and therefore do not require a possible flavour symmetry origin. The possible connection between neutrino parameters measureable in low-energy experiments and the generation of a matter-antimatter asymmetry is explored. In Chapter 3 we extend the analysis of the previous chapter and highlight how a flavour symmetry can allow for leptogenesis in a much wider region of parameter space for the extended seesaw used in \Cref{Chapter2}. The benefits of this extended seesaw, compared to the minimal seesaw scenario, when the proposed flavour symmetry is included are discussed and implications for low-energy flavour-violation experiments are explored. In Chapter 4 different possible Pati-Salam models are discussed with an emphasis on the connection between the scale of Pati-Salam breaking and the scale of heavy neutrino masses. Models allowing for the breaking scale to occur close to the electroweak scale are introduced. The dominant experimental probe of Pati-Salam is discussed and the current limits on the scale of breaking are calculated. Simple extensions of this model are proposed which both break an undesired mass degeneracy in the theory and allow for a significant reduction in the experimental limits on Pati-Salam breaking. A thorough analysis of the possible allowed parameter space in which both of these effects occur is explored and any possible connection to the symmetries of the theory is made. Chapter 5 briefly concludes.